FOX News Poll: Teary-Eyed Thumbs Up for Obama

More than a quarter of Americans say they were moved to tears during Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony. And after his first week in office, there is widespread approval for the job Obama is doing as president.

The latest FOX News poll finds 65 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, 16 percent disapprove and for 19 percent it is too soon to say.

Nearly all Democrats (85 percent) approve of Obama's job performance. In addition, a 64 percent majority of independents approve, and about just as many Republicans approve (37 percent) as disapprove (36 percent) of the new president’s job performance.

And most Americans are pleased with the pace the new administration has set. Two-thirds (66 percent) say Obama is making policy changes at the right speed. For 5 percent Obama is not moving quickly enough and 24 percent think he is making changes too quickly.

Approval of Congress increased significantly in the last two weeks. Some 40 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, up from 23 percent (January 13-14, 2009).

The poll also shows the public is confident in the Secret Service doing their job. A sizable 66 percent majority is "extremely" (28 percent) or "very" (38 percent) confident the Secret Service can protect President Obama from harm.

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from January 27 to January 28. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

Obama made hundreds of promises during the course of the presidential campaign -- could he possibly keep them all? Nearly half of Americans (48 percent) think Obama will accomplish "most" (35 percent) if not "almost all" of them (13 percent) during his presidency.

Democrats (63 percent) are much more optimistic than independents (48 percent) and Republicans (24 percent) in thinking Obama will keep most of his campaign promises.

The poll finds the biggest policy change Americans expect Obama to make in his first year is starting to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq (38 percent). That's followed by closing Gitmo (24 percent), raising taxes (16 percent) and holding direct talks with Iran (11 percent).

Many Americans think First Lady Michelle Obama will have a say on policy matters. Twenty-two percent think she will have "a great deal" of influence on policy, 44 percent say "some" influence, 22 percent "not much" and 8 percent "none at all."

Mixed Views on Treasury Secretary Geithner Confirmation

By a 44 percent to 35 percent margin Americans disapprove of the Senate confirming Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary, including 29 percent of Democrats who say they disapprove as well as 46 percent of independents and 66 percent of Republicans.

More people think Geithner cheated (48 percent) on his taxes than think he made an honest mistake (33 percent) when he failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes during a time he was self-employed. And a 58 percent majority thinks failure to pay part of your taxes should be a disqualification for serving as Treasury Secretary and heading the IRS.

If Geithner were a Republican and had these same kinds of tax problems, more than half of Americans -- 56 percent -- think he would not have been confirmed by the Senate.

The Inauguration Made Me Cry

Most people -- 83 percent -- say they saw or heard some of Obama's inauguration ceremony, which is significantly higher than the 46 percent who saw former President Bush's 2005 ceremony.

Even so, just over half (53 percent) say this wasn't his best speech, while for 36 percent it was Obama's "best."

By 56 percent to 37 percent voters think it was appropriate for Obama to reject a number of Bush administration policies in his inauguration speech.

More than one of four voters -- 28 percent -- got teary-eyed or cried during the ceremony. Those most likely to say they cried include Democrats (38 percent), women (36 percent) and blacks (58 percent).

And while most Americans (69 percent) think race relations will get better in the United States with the election of Obama as president, most also agree his election does not symbolize the end of racial barriers in the country (68 percent).